CHAPTER 28: THE OTHER CHILD
Ethan looked at Samuel.
“Ava does not have a brother.”
Claire’s face turned pale.
Samuel avoided Ethan’s eyes.
“Tell him,” he said.
Ethan stepped away from Claire.
“Tell me what?”
Claire held Ava’s shoulders.
“The night Ava was born, there were two babies.”
The forest became unnaturally quiet.
“Twins?” Ethan asked.
Claire nodded.
“I was told the second baby died.”
“You never told me.”
“I never saw him. The doctors said he survived only a few minutes.”
Evelyn opened one of the medical files.
“The second child did not die.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Ethan could barely speak.
“Where is he?”
“Facility Twelve.”
Ava stared at her mother.
“I have a brother?”
Claire pulled her close.
“I didn’t know.”
Samuel looked toward the mountain road.
“Eleanor took him because he displayed Northstar effects immediately.”
“What kind of effects?” Ethan asked.
“Rapid healing. Extreme sensory perception. Neurological influence over nearby electrical systems.”
Ethan thought of the lights breaking when Ava screamed.
The monitor restarting when she touched the glass.
“Why is Claire’s note warning us not to let them meet?”
Evelyn answered carefully.
“The twins may amplify each other.”
“How?”
“We do not know.”
Conrad looked at the map.
“Eleanor wants Ava at Facility Twelve because she already has the boy.”
Samuel nodded.
“She calls him Nathan.”
Ava repeated the name quietly.
“Nathan.”
A distant engine approached.
Three black helicopters appeared above the forest.
Searchlights moved across the trees.
Eleanor’s voice came through the radio.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
Ethan grabbed the radio.
“They are children. They do not belong to you.”
“Everything born from Northstar belongs to the program.”
Conrad took the radio from him.
“The program ends tonight.”
Eleanor laughed.
“You still believe you own the Vale empire.”
“I built it.”
“And while you pretended to be dying, I replaced every loyal person around you.”
One helicopter lowered above the road.
Armed men descended on ropes.
Evelyn pointed toward an abandoned maintenance building.
“There is a vehicle inside.”
They ran.
As Ethan opened the door, a boy stepped from the shadows.
He looked eight years old.
May you like
He had Ava’s eyes.
And he was holding Claire’s missing wedding ring.
